SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/26/2015
8:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Antichrist’s Arrogance
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Rev. 13:5-6
Message of the
verses: “5 There was given to him a
mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for
forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies
against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell
in heaven.”
I want to quote a paragraph from my Spiritual Diary from August
18, 2005, and this quote is not totally about all of these two verses but it
does bring up a point as to perhaps when the timing would be when Satan is
kicked out of heaven, something we have written about in an earlier SD. “Again it is good to be reminded that all of
these things will happen in the second half of the tribulation, or the “Great
Tribulation,” and also after Satan is expelled from heaven. I would like to go back to a statement that
Dr. Wiersbe made concerning the possibility of Satan being in heaven when the
“Judgment Seat of Christ” was going on, as he would be accusing the brethren at
that event. If you couple that with a
phrase in verse six, “Blaspheme…those who dwell in heaven,” this all begins to
make more sense, for if Satan was at the Judgment Seat of Christ accusing the
brethren and was then kicked out of heaven after that event then it would make
sense that he would be blaspheming those who were at that event because his
accusations did no good.” We will not
move on to the arrogance of the Antichrist.
Let us begin with a quote from John MacArthur: “Like his master, Satan, Antichrist will be
an arrogant blasphemer. Blasphemy will
not be incidental but central to his operations. The phrase ‘there was given to him’ refers to
God’s sovereign control of events (6:4, 8; 7:2; 9:5; cf. Dan. 4:17, 25,
32). God will allow Antichrist to
blaspheme to give full expression to the satanic wickedness that will cover the
earth at that time. He will exhibit a
total disregard for the true God by continually ‘speaking arrogant words and
blasphemies.’ Antichrist’s blasphemy
will not be subtle, but open, outrageous, and monstrous—even to the point that
he ‘takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God’ (2
Thess. 2:4). This is reminiscent of
Satan’s original desire when he fell from heaven and holiness. He said in his heart ‘I will make myself like
the Most High’ (Isa. 14:14).”
More from the OT book of Daniel to show the arrogance of
Antichrist as we look at Daniel 7:8 “"While I was contemplating the horns,
behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first
horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like
the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.” A similar statement is repeated in Daniel
7:20 as Daniel explains his vision. “"Then
I kept looking because of
the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept
looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the
burning fire (Daniel 7:11).” Daniel
speaks that Antichrist will speak against the Most High: “’He will speak out against the Most High and
wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations
in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times,
and half a time.” Notice the time limit
he has, which is the same as in Revel 13:5 but written in a different way. “"Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify
himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods;
and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is
decreed will be done (Daniel 11:36).”
Antichrist’s arrogance will be greater than any other
human being that has ever lived, as he is empowered by Satan to which gives him
this ability. I remember Proverbs 16:18
which states “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before
stumbling.” “First pride, then the
crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall (Message).”
We see as we continue to look at our text for today that
his blasphemies will be against God, His name and His tabernacle, and also
those who dwell in heaven. God’s name is
representative of who He is, which is all of His attributes combined or the
summation of His attributes, and the tabernacle is God’s home in heaven, and he
even blasphemes those in heaven, perhaps those who have been raptured before
the beginning of the Tribulation Period, and it might even include God’s holy
angels of which Satan was once one of them.
Again we look at the length of his activity and it is
only for 42 months or three and a half years, or as Daniel says for 1260 days
(Dan. 9:24). MacArthur concludes “Antichrist
and Satan will be allowed to operate only within the time limit set for them by
the true Ruler of the universe. But for
a few years, they will dominate the world.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I want to go back
to Ec. 3:1 “There is an
appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under
heaven-“ There is a time for evil
to run rampant in the world, and then there is a time when the Lord will stop
this evil when He returns as seen in Revelation 19.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To trust the Lord to give me a clear
conscience.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Nicodemus” (John 3:9).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where had the Ethiopian
eunuch gone to worship?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/26/2015 9:24 AM
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